Guest column: Suffering is the cost of free will

We're looking for a few faith leaders to write guest columns that we can publish on our Faith & Values page in the Yorba Linda Star. If you'd like to be a featured columnist, please write a sample column and send it to rhack@ocregister.com. Please use the subject line Faith Leader.

I've had the opportunity to travel around the world to many developing nations. The horrific mass poverty leaves all rational people shocked, angry, grief-stricken and numb. It's only natural to ask, “Why does God allow such suffering?”

If God is so great and so good, why does he allow human beings to hurt each other, and why does he allow children to die of starvation?

The answer lies in what is both our greatest blessing and our worst curse: our capacity to make choices. God has given us free will. God has not created us like marionettes on strings that he pulls. He has given us the freedom to choose how we will act and the ability to make moral choices.

This function sets us apart from animals, but it also is the source of so much pain in our world. We are capable of making selfish, self-centered or even evil choices. Whenever that happens, people get hurt.

Sin ultimately is selfishness. I want to do what I want, not what God tells me to do. Unfortunately, sin always hurts others, not just ourselves.

God could have eliminated all evil and suffering from our world simply by removing our ability to choose. By taking away our ability to choose, evil and suffering would vanish.

But God doesn't want us to be puppets. He wants to be loved and obeyed by creatures who freely, voluntarily choose to love him and each other. Love is not genuine if there is no other option.

The problem isn't poverty; the problem is corruption. Yes, God could have kept people from starvation and even terrorists from completing their suicidal missions. He could have short-circuited their ability to choose their own will instead of his.

But to be fair, God also would have to do that to all of us. While you and I aren't terrorists, we do hurt others with our own selfish decisions and actions.

In a world of free choices, God's will is rarely done. Doing our own will is much more common – and let's be honest, it's also easier. Let's not blame God for tragedy and poverty.

In heaven, God's will is done perfectly. That's why there is no sorrow, pain or evil there. But this is earth – a fallen, imperfect place. We must choose to do God's will every day. It isn't automatic. That is why Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.”

If you would like to grow in your walk with Jesus, I invite you to attend our next service at Crosspointe Church in Yorba Linda. Services are at 6 p.m. Saturdays and at 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sundays.

– Brian Moore is the lead pastor at Crosspointe Church, 18821 Yorba Linda Blvd. He lives in Yorba Linda with his wife and children.

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